Neighbors
by waterlily12
Summary: "Since you already stepped out your door, will you go out to see the world with me?" He stared at his strange new apartment neighbor that looked too much like a girl scout than her acclaimed age. ZerefxMavis oneshot.
_Hi! I wrote this a while ago but didn't get a chance to publish it. It's a little oneshot about Mavis and Zeref. They're just too cute~_

 _I'm sorry for any grammatical errors ahead of time ^^'_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail._

* * *

Zeref scrutinized the situation that faced his door, his onyx eyes showing mild confusion. Other than that, he was impassive.

In front of his door was a petite blonde - looking no older than 13 - with long wavy hair; wing accessories adorned her head, looking awfully like ears. She was wearing a long-sleeved, frilly pink dress with a red ribbon tied around the collar. Her jade green eyes looked up to meet his dull black ones as she smiled brightly, with hands behind her back.

One word crossed Zeref's mind. Short.

"Hi, I'm -"

"I'm not interested in girl scout cookies." The young man interrupted before the petite blonde could even finish. After that, he promptly closed his door and hope that was the end of that.

Zeref was about to head back to the living room to resume his work when the door bell rang again. He just stood there, wondering if he should answer it.

Maybe he pondered too long or something because the doorbell rang again in several quick successions, indicating that the one ringing it was getting impatient.

He sighed, not wanting to get a headache from the continuous ringing, opened the door again to look down at the same blonde. "What?" That came out more harsh than he intended to but it wasn't like he cared that much.

"How rude!" The girl chided, leaning in and prodding his chest, which caught him off guard. "I just came over with a friendly greeting since I'm your new neighbor and you slam the door on me?"

Zeref blinked at the petite blonde as she stopped and folded her arms across her chest, glaring at him with a pout. Did he really just got chastised by a girl who's barely in her teen?

After a moment of silence, he angled his head acutely to his side. "... Sorry?"

The petite blonde's ahoge twitched, and as if reading his mind, "I'll have you know that I'm a young adult of 20, not a 13 year old girl scout."

"Oh." Zeref blinked again, wondering if she had gotten a lot of that to know he was thinking about it - albeit he wasn't sure if he should trust the words of someone who looked too young for their claimed age.

"... sorry?"

She sighed, her shoulders slumped. "At least you don't laugh like others do when they thought I was joking." Her mood changed quickly as she brightened up again, extending a hand out to shake. "I'm Mavis Vermilion by the way! Hope we'll be good neighbors!"

Zeref stared at her hand for a good long time as if it was a foreign object, but slowly, he accepted it.

His cold hand met with her warm ones, immediately sending chills down his spine, which made him withdraw quickly.

"Zeref Dragneel. Bye." He said hastily before closing the door again. And again, the doorbell rang once more.

His right eye twitched slightly but he opened the door again, unintentionally revealing his annoyed expression instead of his indifferent one. "What?" He asked again, this time, intentionally rude since it was the same person.

Mavis smiled sheepishly since she knew that she was rousing up trouble. "Sorry to bother again, but do you want to go get a drink or something to eat? I'm new in Magnolia and I would love it if I could go exploring with someone!"

"... You don't sound or act like you're 20." Zeref remarked instead of answering, looking down at her suspiciously.

"Hehe..." She giggled, not letting that bother her at all like the first time. "It's just a friendly interaction between neighbors right? And you seem like you are in need of something to make that frown upside down."

Zeref's frown deepened. In his eyes, she was the embodiment of cheerfulness, something he wasn't used to. But... there were some aspects of it that he found... cute. "Not interested."

Mavis pouted again. Zeref had to put up a strong front in order not to be affected by the sight. "But..."

"Good bye." And again, he closed the door on her - or he would've... if her foot wasn't caught in between.

"Wah!" Mavis yelped in pain but then swallowed it in.

Zeref got frantic for a split second, causing him to let go of his doorknob. He watched as Mavis hopped on one foot in a circle in front of him. The sight was just too much.

He sighed and stopped her, stepping out of the door and separated his space and the world. He took hold of her tiny foot and examined it nonchalantly. "Does it hurt?"

"N-no..." Mavis tried to act brave but Zeref could see through it. But if it was her, then anyone could see through her since she was too honest with her emotions.

"Uh huh." Zeref replied as he tried to twist her ankle at various spots to check for any reaction. Wait, what was he doing?

He immediately stiffen, realizing he had just left his apartment to care for a girl he meet just a few moments ago.

"Um... Zeref?" Mavis was baffled as to why he suddenly looked so shocked and... was that fear?

"Oh, sorry." Zeref shook his head and his impassive face came back. What was wrong with him? Why did he actually feel concern for this girl? "It looks fine so you should leave."

"Wait!" Mavis took hold of Zeref's hand. The warmth from her hand fought with icy ones and it gave him another chill. What was that?

"... Let go please." Zeref tried to ask as calmly as he could while trying to loosen her grip.

"I really want you to go exploring with me!" Mavis sounded pretty adamant in her decision.

Zeref frowned at her unreasonable request and that hand of hers... if he doesn't get away, he felt that it would cook him on fire. It was dangerous. This girl is dangerous. "And I'm not interested so ask someone else in this buidling."

"But..." Mavis' eyes suddenly turn teary and income the water works that seemed to make her even cuter. "It has to be you! Please!"

Zeref swallowed. He was already trying to put up a front against this young woman but adding in the fact that he can't deal with woman in general - especially a crying one - his defenses were slowly ebbing away.

"Why me?" He has to at least know why she was so persistent.

"Because," Mavis' child-like eyes became bright with resolution. "I really want to be your friend when I first saw you yesterday!"

It would have been touching - if it wasn't Zeref who received those words.

"... We met before?"

Mavis didn't seem deterred a bit as she nodded enthusiastically. "You're the one who helped me gathered my things when they fell! It was really nice of you!"

Zeref stared at her sparkling face for a second, then was able to recalled that piece of memory. Except... it wasn't at all what happened. It was just one of those rare days that he goes out and when he came back, there was a mess in front of his apartment door.

That was her doing?

"Ah... I see. But I wasn't help you. They were in my way."

Mavis remained unaffected as she went on. "But you still helped so the reason behind them doesn't matter!"

"..."

"Now," Mavis extended her hand out in front of Zeref, her smile radiated a certain light that made her look like a fairy. "Since you already stepped out your door, will you go out to see the world with me?"

"..." Zeref looked at his feet, the wooden flooring of his apartment replaced by cement. He then looked back to the door that isolated him from what was going on outside. Afterwards, he looked at the outstretched hands which belong to a radiating girl.

Zeref sighed in defeat, and accepted the offered hand.

"... Sure."

He'll have to rethink about his seclusion later.

And that 'later' - as he would soon learn - will never come.


End file.
